The rules and regulations around health and safety in the workplace can be complicated, but they are there for a good reason, too, as we found out when we recently attended a very important CPD course, you might find the following of interest.

If one of your employees, or a member of the public get hurt on your premises and it turns out that you have not fully complied with your Health and Safety responsibilities, the consequences can be very serious.

Amongst other things employers should consider, the following are the key points in relation to Health and Safety Legislation and good practice to avoid prosecution by enforcing authorities

1:           The preparation of a General Health and Safety Policy Document:

• Arrange for an inspection to be carried out to identify areas of non-compliance.
• Put a framework in place to establish and publicise the company Health and Safety Policy and Procedures for your employees.
• Identify any special arrangements and/or emergency procedures relation to your workplace.
• Establish a means for risk assessments to be carried out, recorded and reviewed.
• Establish a workplace inspection procedure and monitoring audit trail, maintenance of risk registers.
• Liaise with Insurance Brokers to ensure adequate insurances are in place.

2:           The preparation of a Health and Safety Policy and Procedures Handbook:

• Health and Safety General Policy.
• Organisation structure for the implementation of the Policy.
• Management Responsibilities and Individual Responsibilities.
• Keeping Record sheets and Action Logs.
• Ensuring specific arrangements are catered for.

3:           Maintenance of Safety Records:

• Accidents, incidents or dangerous occurrences.
• Report Forms.
• Implementation checklists.
• Accident and investigation reports.
• Fire procedures reviews.

4:           Employee Safety:

• Provision of training on a periodic basis and retain evidence of same - Informed employees are safer employees.
• Ensuring employees know their responsibilities too.
• Fire/emergency procedures.
• First Aid.

For more information please see www.hsa.ie

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